Religious Identity Politics and Genuine Support for Democracy

Are group identities associated with pro- or anti-democratic orientations? We focus on the relationship between religious identity and genuine support for democracy, which refers to citizens’ endorsement of norms and procedures associated with democratic governance. We suggest that the effect of religious identity on genuine support for democracy is conditional on whether individuals belong to a minority religious tradition and the extent to which minority religions are treated differentially by the state. Using data from the World Values Surveys, we show that, while the strength of religious identity is associated with reduced genuine support for democracy, this negative effect is less pronounced for members of minority religious groups, especially when these groups face differential treatment by the state. We also find that members of minority religions are more committed to democratic norms than members of majority religions as their group identity becomes stronger and as their differential treatment by the state increases.